The winners of 2010 UN-HABITAT International Essay
Competition have been announced. The three winners were announced in
Nairobi on Monday ending a drawn out search that saw reviews of hundreds of
interesting essays submitted by young people from around the world.
Twenty year old Soumitra Subinaya from India emerged the top in the hotly
contested exercise with the 30 year old Theresa Mills from the United
States coming second. In third position was the 27 year old Foy Franklin
from Cameroon.
The winner will be awarded a net book and a roundtrip economy ticket to
attend a major UN-HABITAT youth event, the second placed walks away with
one high density camera and the third one gets a digital camera.
The essay ‘‘ The right to the City– bridging the urban divide” challenged
youth to discuss challenges facing young people in cities, identify the
underlying issues that prevent the full inclusion of youth in shaping the
urban development agenda from a youth perceptive as well as provide
solutions for youth participation in an urban planning and managing cities
an essay of 1000 words.
Speaking during the announcement, Mr. Anantha Krishnan UN-HABITAT Senior
Advisor for Youth Empowerment said “the essays are a testimony of the
expressions and engagements of young people in the understanding of urban
divide issues and providing of creative solutions for urbanization''
Entries were received from over two hundred young people from 45 Countries.
The quality of essays submitted by young people does not only indicate
youth capabilities but is a testament that young people have great ideas
and solutions to tackle the urban agenda and bridge the urban divide. The
essay competition, organized as part of the World Urban Youth Assembly held
on 19 and 20 March 2010 in Rio de Janeiro Brazil is in line with
UN-HABITAT’s effort to engage young people in urban policy formulation and
implementation.
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